Press Release

Washington, D.C. –  The Welcome With Dignity Campaign is outraged by ICE’s extrajudicial killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, poet, and wife, who was killed just after dropping the youngest of her children off at elementary school on January 7th. People have a legal right to observe enforcement actions. We extend our deepest condolences to Good’s loved ones, and to the loved ones of all those who have been harmed, abducted, or disappeared by the Trump administration’s cruel deportation agenda.  

This horrific use of violence by ICE is not an aberration—it is part of a larger, sinister pattern of DHS agents terrorizing, abducting, injuring, and even killing, our neighbors, friends, and community members. In the last five months alone, federal officers killed at least three other people, according to The Marshall Project. Among those targeted includes Silverio Villegas González, a father originally from Mexico who worked as a cook, who ICE agents killed during a traffic stop in a Chicago suburb on September 12. He had lived in Chicago for two decades. 

Since the Trump administration’s escalation of immigration actions across the country, The Trace identified 16 incidents in which immigration agents shot someone and another 15 in which they held someone at gunpoint. In the last four months alone, immigration officers have fired on at least nine people in five states and Washington, D.C. At least three of these people were shot while observing or documenting immigration raids. In September, during a night-time raid of a Chicago apartment building, ICE agents held parents and their children at gunpoint. 

It is clear that the Trump administration’s cruel agenda of mass deportation is a direct threat to our communities and our lives—the administration has created and funded a climate of heightened fear and terror in which ICE acts with impunity.  The Trump administration has deployed xenophobic and racist rhetoric to describe our neighbors, friends, and loved ones, including members of the Somali-American community in Minnesota.

The message from the Trump Administration through these actions and the accusatory rhetoric used in their aftermath is clearly designed to intimidate and discourage opposition. Yet, the law is clear that extrajudicial killings are never justified. WWD urges those in power to swiftly condemn these authoritarian practices, the harm that they cause to our communities, and the culture around them.

Welcome With Dignity and its 125+ members call on our elected leaders to join us calling for accountability for the extrajudicial killing of Good, as well as accountability and justice for all those who have been affected by ICE’s violent actions. We call on our representatives to block further funding for ICE in upcoming appropriations legislation, and to pursue policies that protect our communities from the violence, pain, and devastation wrought by immigration enforcement actions. 

“There is nothing this administration can say that justifies the taking of a human life,” said Imani Cruz, Global Policy Coordinator for Migration Justice with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). “We must stand in our belief that every life is sacred and death is always too high a price to pay, no matter the circumstance. Whether in our streets or in DHS detention, every person deserves the right to live without the fear of losing their life at the whim of the government. When policy does not protect or represent the people, we must resist.”

“Democracy depends on the right of people to publicly and openly protest policies they oppose. Authoritarian governments label protest as a threat and use disappearances and extrajudicial killings as potent weapons to maintain their control. By claiming DHS officers were the victims after they shot an unarmed bystander, the federal government sends a clear message that dissent risks being met with deadly force,” said Michele Garnett McKenzie, Executive Director at The Advocates for Human Rights in Minnesota. “DHS’s extrajudicial killing of a bystander violates our most fundamental values as a country – the protection of life, liberty, and security; justice before the law; and freedom of speech and assembly. But these values are not just ours – these are internationally recognized rights designed to ensure all people are safe when speaking out against injustice. We stand with communities across the country in the continued defense of our neighbors and our human rights.”

“This would not have happened but for the unprecedented, unjustified militarized enforcement across the country and now in Minneapolis,” said Alison Beckman, the Center for Victims of Torture’s Senior Clinician for External Relations and the Refugee Advocacy Lab’s Minnesota State Lead. “The atmosphere this enforcement has created and now exacerbated by what happened has created a climate of terror. This is what our clients have fled. People, including CVT clients, seek refuge in the United States because they are fleeing these very types of overly militarized enforcement actions. Our clients, survivors of torture, are terrified. They are experiencing increased suicidal ideation, are afraid to go to work, afraid to leave their homes.”

“We are horrified by the murder of Renee Good, and disgusted by the administration’s efforts to justify her killing,” said Linda McFarlane, Executive Director of Just Detention International. “Renee’s murder is one of many acts of state-sanctioned violence undertaken by ICE against our communities. Under the Trump Administration, ICE and CBP are wreaking havoc in the streets and using deadly force against immigrants and their allies, to say nothing of what they are doing to the thousands of people they detain and deport. Congress must act now to stop funding ICE and protect human rights.”

“The National Immigration Project stands in grief and solidarity with the Minneapolis community and local immigrant-focused organizations,” said Sirine Shebaya, Executive Director of the National Immigration Project. “Minneapolis has long been a city shaped and made vibrant by immigrants and refugees. Beyond the immediate loss of life, this violence is another attempt to intimidate and terrorize immigrant communities. The tragic death of Renee Good inflicts deep psychological harm on families and neighbors who must now process fear, sorrow, and uncertainty in the place they call home. We are also deeply disturbed by the federal government’s narrative of events, which are glaringly contradicted by eyewitness accounts and video. These contradictions raise serious questions that demand full transparency, an independent investigation, and real accountability. Anything less would be a profound injustice to Renee Good, her loved ones, and the broader community now living with dread and despair.”

“The brutal murder of this young mother in Minneapolis is the latest devastating reminder of the chaos and danger unleashed when ICE is allowed to act with impunity,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, CEO and President of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “As in Los Angeles and Chicago before, DHS immediately blasted out a prepackaged, blame‑the‑victim narrative before any independent investigation, gaslighting the public with a story that blatantly contradicts what people can see with their own eyes. The growing militarization of immigration enforcement and the escalation of armed operations in our neighborhoods have made our communities less safe, violated fundamental constitutional rights, and inflicted widespread fear and trauma. Congress must block any additional funding for ICE’s hateful agenda and ensure the agency is constrained by the Constitution. The entire Trump administration must face consequences for the harm their policies have inflicted on immigrant communities and on this nation as a whole.” 

“We are witnessing unconscionable levels of escalating violence by ICE agents against anyone who objects to their random, unlawful, kidnappings of community members.  CHIRLA demands an independent investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good and other similar incidents in other states, hold those agents and supervisors responsible, and take them off our streets.  No community in America should be subjected to violence or terror because of federal enforcement actions.  As we grieve and denounce the Trump Administration’s brutality, we urge community members and allies to channel their reaction into peaceful protest and civic action. Our collective power lies in protecting one another and demanding justice,” stated Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).

“Renee Good should still be alive today,” said George Devendorf, Senior Director of External Affairs at Church World Service. “Our prayers are with her loved ones and the countless families who have suffered at the hands of this administration’s increasingly lawless and violent pursuit of its anti-immigrant agenda. We cannot allow the government’s militarized and indiscriminate enforcement efforts to continue to harm our communities and neighbors with impunity. We call upon lawmakers to stand up for our constitutional rights and to oppose additional funding for the already grossly over-resourced budgets of ICE and CBP.” 

“We stand in deep grief and heartfelt solidarity with Renee Nicole Good, those who loved and cared for her, and with the Minneapolis community,” said Sergio Perez, the Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. “Ms. Good’s murder by federal agents is an abhorrent and tragic event that highlights ongoing concerns over use of force, lack of transparency, and the impact of aggressive enforcement tactics on all of us. It is also a symptom of this administration’s campaign to dehumanize those who oppose their actions, choosing to harm, terrorize, and endanger our communities rather than protect them. We call on our representatives to block further funding for ICE and hold every person responsible for this killing accountable, beginning with President Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem, and the agent who repeatedly shot Ms. Good.”

“As Congress is negotiating funding for ICE and Border Patrol, these agencies are continuing to terrorize our communities with impunity,” said Jesse Franzblau, Associate Policy Director with the National Immigrant Justice Center. “It is imperative that Congress use the FY2026 funding process to rein in the Trump administration’s reckless assaults and prevent any more funding for the out-of-control immigration enforcement and deadly detention expansion programs. Now is the time for Congress to stop spending our tax dollars on DHS and other militarized federal officers and contractors that are harming our loved ones and neighbors.”

“The killing of Renee Good and its aftermath, which includes categorizing legal observers as domestic terrorists, violently raiding a high school in south Minneapolis, and viciously smearing the character of its victim, is a wakeup call to all Americans. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) endangers all our lives, immigrants and non-immigrants alike. They are provided license to racially profile, to intimidate, to unlawfully detain and incarnate, and to kill with impunity,” states Alba Jaramillo and Melissa Bowe, Co-Executive Directors at Immigration Law & Justice Network. “As long as ICE continues to invade our communities, we are at risk of losing our constitutional protections, our freedom, and our very lives. ILJ Network demands more than accountability or oversight: we demand the complete dismantling of this relatively young and vitriolic agency that is escalating its tactics every day and poses a mortal danger to every community across this country.” 

“We are heartbroken by ICE’s killing of Renee Nicole Good, a mother, poet, wife, who had just dropped off her child at school when she was killed by an ICE agent. Silverio Villegas González was driving his car at a traffic light when he was killed by an ICE agent. They should both be alive today. The 32 people who died in ICE detention in 2025, and the two people who have died in ICE custody already in 2026, should be alive today. They, and many others, should be home, with their loved ones at this very moment,” said Robyn Barnard, Senior Director of Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First. “I wish we were more shocked, however, this senseless loss of life is a predictable outcome of Congress giving a rogue agency billions of dollars to carry out the President’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda. As we mourn ICE’s extrajudicial killing of Renee Nicole Good, we persevere in our commitment to stand with our immigrant neighbors, colleagues, and friends. This is a moment to channel our outrage, devastation, and pain into collective action and solidarity calling for an end to the cruelty, the impunity, and devastation our communities have experienced due to Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.”